There are several phases of the interpretation process that ultimately lead to discerning the biblical author’s main point: answer the questions you asked of the text, specify how the original audience would have interpreted and responded to the author’s message, explain how the author describes the nature of God, then explain how the author describes the nature of humanity, and finally, identify the main point of the passage.

To properly interpret and apply biblical texts, it is essential to prioritize discovering the historical-cultural, literary, and theological contexts of the texts we are studying. In this article, I will show you how to discover these contexts.